We are often looking for God’s will – especially when we are in a difficult situation. We wonder, ‘What will happen to me here? Should I stay or does God want me somewhere else?’ The only way to know for sure is to do what He asks you to do right now – the duty of the present moment – and wait for God to reveal the next step. As you obey what you know, you will be strengthened to take the next step and the next. One step at a time – just like a toddler. That is how we learn to walk with God.

But you say, ‘Suppose I take the first step. What will happen next?’ That is God’s business. Your task and mine is to obey this day and leave the future to Him. The psalmist says ‘Our steps are ordered by the Lord’ (Psalm 37:23). This day’s direction is all we need. Tomorrow’s instruction is of no use to us at all.

George MacDonald wrote, ‘We do not understand the next page of God’s lesson book; we see only the one before us. Nor shall we be allowed to turn the leaf until we have learned its lesson.’ If we concern ourselves with God’s will and obey each day the directions and warnings He gives, if we walk by faith and step out in the path of obedience, we will find that God will lead us through this day.

As Jesus said, ‘Tomorrow will worry about its own things.’ (Matthew 6:34).

God knows each winding way I take,

And every sorrow, pain and ache;

His children He will not forsake –

He knows and loves His own. H G Bosch

This was our morning devotion recently, written by David Roper in Our Daily Bread, and both my husband and I were encouraged as we read it. May each of us today, and in the days ahead, know with certainty, that our God will lead us and our obedience brings His blessing. Jeremiah tells us, ‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’ (Jeremiah 29:11).

There is a Schools Ministry Task Group which meets regularly to discuss and encourage Christian Pastoral Support Workers (Chaplains) in our schools. Although the majority of the funding comes from the Government, our local group accepts donations from local churches to extend the hours a CPS Worker spends at school. We now reach into 5 schools, representing a significant increase over the last 2 years.

Carelle has 15.5 hours per week at Coomandook Area School.

Narelle has 17 hours per week at Murray Bridge North School.

Lisa has 18 hours per week at Murray Bridge High School.

Daryl has 24 hours per week at Fraser Park School.

Mawson has 14.5 hours per week at Jervois Primary School.

Our Churches fund 6 hours of the above. This goes to help Carelle, Narelle and Lisa, who appreciate the funding they receive on a regular basis from the Church of Christ Bookshop and the Ladies Fellowship. The new principal of South School has asked for a CPS Worker, but there is no funding available. Our Coffee Shop has pledged $200 per month towards this goal – let’s see how this one grows.

The task group allocates funds to special programs, like dance groups and ‘entertainers’ who bring the Christian message to these young lives, but we are always amazed at the energy and effort our workers put into caring for the students and staff at each of their schools. Most of our Workers go on school camps which are an excellent opportunity of sharing with the students.

In September, our men from the Saturday Bible Study group went to Coomandook School to help Carelle paint the room she uses as her ‘den’. We do these things, to show our CPS Workers we value them.

The Task group would like to thank the Church of Christ for being a major supporter of this valuable ministry.

Kairos Prison Ministry

The next Kairos course will be the 18th conducted in Mobilong Gaol. The team has been meeting and working together over the months of August and September, and is almost ready to march through the gates of the prison, on the 15th of October. They will go back in each day, and finish on the 18th.

Once again the families from the Church of Christ will be billeting the team, and our church will become the base for the duration of the course. Things are different this time – we have been denied the privilege of taking home-made meals into prison, which changes our logistics considerably. As a security measure, we can’t rely on many things we did before, but as servants of Christ, we do what we can within the rules set before us.

We are still able to take biscuits in, but have had those copious quantities of support letters reduced to just 6 per ‘guest’. There is, as always, a request for prayer support. Use this link (sorry – the link is no longer relevant because the event is now over, so the link has been removed) to register your half hour slot within the duration of the course.

This is a great time for our guests, many of whom see Jesus in action for the first time. Many seeds are sown, and some change their lives totally. It is also a real experience for the team, to be on mission working in such an intense environment, where they rely on God so often, and where God always shows His awesome presence.

The team is so grateful for the continued support from the Murray Bridge Church of Christ.

When some of us were young we may have been intrigued by the stories of pirates and treasure seekers. They were tales of excitement and drama. The desire for untold riches brought an alluring edge to the stories. Even today, people enjoy such tales of adventure, as the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies have shown.

On Saturday of last weekend we inadvertently went treasure seeking. One modern form is called geocaching, for which you need a GPS device. Our daughter used the GPS on her phone to find a cache – the “treasure” – hidden under some bark in the Wirrabara Forest in the mid-north. We were there having a picnic.

The treasure, or cache, consists of a small watertight container with a logbook to sign and some little item such as a toy animal which you can take, providing you replace it with something else, or just leave it. The sites are listed online in their thousands in almost every country. We later found another one in Laura but failed to find a third one there.

I can imagine that geocaching could become more than a healthy, relaxing, outdoor hobby. I suspect it could easily become an obsessive, even addictive pursuit, not unlike the treasure seeking and gold rushes of the past.

Where is your treasure? Is it in temporary physical possessions you hoard in your home? Jesus taught the crowds about the true value of and attitude towards treasure.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6: 19 – 21)

Please note that I’ve taken this saying out of context; it is vitally important to read the whole chapter. (Yes – go and read it – I’ll wait until you get back to finish this.)

Jesus was teaching about anxiety, about seeking things in life and about how God will provide for us. He concludes by saying: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

We invite all who love the Lord Jesus Christ to join us in a time of worship this coming Sunday, 22nd September 2013.

We meet in our worship centre at 32 Seventh Street, Murray Bridge, South Australia. The service starts at 10am and includes gathering at the Lord’s Table (Communion).

This week our leaders are as follows:

Worship leader: Chris Longden

Communion: Paul Sandford

Guest Speaker: John Gilmore from Global Mission Partners (GMP). John will focus on some of the work being undertaken in mission in various countries such as Fiji, Vanuatu, India and Vietnam with a particular focus on the children’s home in Zimbabwe.

Young People’s Bible Study Group meet after communion part way through our service and they are led by Corinne Hampel.

We invite you to come and enjoy a time of singing and worship, a time of learning from God’s Word, the Bible, and fellowship over a cuppa in the Coffee Shop after the service. There will also be a special Church Lunch in the Coffee Shop (cost $7).

Prayer: Don’t forget that if you or someone in your family has a special need, the Elders are available after the service to pray with you. (See Ted Smith, David Mills or Trevor Hampel.)

This is being run and promoted by OAC Ministries, an international group we have had close ties to for many years. OAC Ministries stands for Outreach And Church Ministries. It was originally called Open Air Campaigners, but, although much of their outreach in many countries is still conducted in streets and parks and beaches, that is not the only form of ministry. Here in Australia – and most of the countries where the organisation has spread – there is a vital and growing ministry in schools, for example, as well as churches.

Come along at 8am to our Coffee Shop for a fine breakfast, and a time of fellowship followed by news of the work of OAC Ministries and join in prayer for this important outreach.

My Sturt’s Desert Pea was looking droopy the other day and when I scratched down into the soil near the plant I realised how dry it was. I planted this lovely native plant from a pot and was astounded when I removed the pot to find there were no lateral roots at all. The mix dropped away from the base of the plant except where the very vigorous, thick, white roots were growing vertically.

In the wild, seedlings send their roots very rapidly down, following moisture that allows the plants to survive in very low rainfall areas. In the home garden, if seed has not been sown directly in the soil, the plants need much watering to survive. A researcher at Flinders University determined that Sturt Peas do best in a self watering pot with additional fertiliser in the home garden.

My poor plant is in non-wetting mallee sand. When it gets water the leaves perk up quickly. However, it is obvious that if I want the plant to survive, I have to overcome this problem to ensure that water goes very deep to the roots every time it is watered.

Mark 4: 5-6 says ‘Some [seed] fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root’.

Can you survive and thrive in difficult times? How deeply do your roots go into God’s word? Do you have confidence in God’s word? Do you believe God’s word? Do you know what Gods’ word says on some of the issues we face in life? Did you once read your Bible but don’t do so now? Are you like my Sturt Pea plant which withers when the moisture begins to dry up? Begin reading the Word of God, your Bible, today.

If you are feeling anything like me, you are totally over the Australian election campaign of 2013. It is a frenetic, in-your-face, ever-present factor of life today when we approach an election. In fact, on the very first day of this current event I posted on Facebook that I was already totally over it. Many friends sympathised with me.

In a democracy election campaigns are a necessary by-product of the process. Thankfully it is now over – until the next one. That will be the state election in South Australia next March. Oh, no, I hear you mumble?

What many do not realise is that the doctrine of election is an important topic in the Bible. One of the key verses is in Paul’s letter to the Ephesian believers. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. (Eph. 1:3-4)

God chose us. Just like you chose the candidates you wanted elected, God chose you. Not only that, He chose you before the creation of the world. Isn’t that amazing? And it is so comforting too. It was His plan all along, since before time began. Wow.

But wait – there’s more – we were chosen to be holy and blameless in his sight. This was only made possible because He chose us in him, that is, He chose those who are in Christ. When we accept salvation through Christ, we are blameless and holy in his sight. What a wonderful and reassuring position to be in.

As we worship our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ today, may we rejoice in the fact that he chose us.

For more on the topic of election or God’s elect, study these passages:

These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full —John 15:11

What was the joy that Jesus had? Joy should not be confused with happiness. In fact, it is an insult to Jesus Christ to use the word happiness in connection with Him. The joy of Jesus was His absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice to His Father— the joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do— “. . . who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross . . .” (Hebrews 12:2). “I delight to do Your will, O my God . . .” (Psalm 40:8). Jesus prayed that our joy might continue fulfilling itself until it becomes the same joy as His.

Challenge: Have I allowed Jesus Christ to introduce His joy to me?

The above is an extract from the popular devotional book My Utmost for His Highestwritten many years ago by Oswald Chambers. Multitudes of Christians – including me – have deepened their spiritual life by using this little booklet.

If you’ve like to buy your own copy, or one for a family member or friend, come in to the Church of Christ Bookshop, Seventh street, Murray Bridge, South Australia.

You never know – you might even find several other great books, CDs, DVDs, gifts or cards that are just right for a special person in your life. Below is a photo showing just a small selection of items available.

And while you are there – drop in to the Coffee Shop just a few steps away (open Wednesday to Friday 10am – 2pm).